Lenovo Shifts Gear With New Devices

Lenovo has been quiet on its mobile front this year, but the silence has been broken with the launch of the new Phab 2 series of phablets. Along with the sleek looking Yoga Book, it’s clear now that Lenovo hasn’t been slacking on the innovation front.

Khoo Hung Chuan, GM of Lenovo Malaysia, was visibly excited with the new products. “Lenovo has always been at the forefront of innovation, having incorporated projectors into tablets and taking inspiration from a watchband hinge for the Yoga series,” he said in his welcome speech.

“The desired to be creative is innate in many of us, and we at Lenovo are unleashing the artistic streak in everyone with our new Yoga Book. It is also a versatile productivity tool, as users can input notes easily and bring it to work just about anyway, thanks to its thin and light form factor. Meanwhile the Phab 2 Pro is the world’s first Google Tango-enabled phablet, which offers everyone truly cutting-edge augmented reality (AR) experiences,” he added.

The Yoga Book is considered a hybrid tablet, which can be used for minor productivity using its Halo keyboard.

A unique take on the tablet, the Yoga Book is thin and light, yet comes with a battery life rated at 15 hours. This combination makes it usable as a handy portable digital sketch or notebook. Like the other Yoga devices, it has the 360-degree watchband hinge and when in standard laptop form, the Halo keyboard can be activated. When not required, users can switch off the Halo keyboard and use the surface to draw or write. In addition, the Yoga Book will come with an accessory called the “Real Pen”. It allows users to write notes or sketch drawings even on pen and paper, then saving them in digital format on the Yoga Book.

Lenovo has taken a leap with the Phab 2 series, with the Phab 2 Pro leading it by offering unique AR experiences via Google Tango.

As for the Phab 2 series of phablets, Lenovo has come up with three models – the Phab 2 Pro, Phab 2 Plus, and Phab 2. The marquee Phab 2 Pro model comes with AR capabilities via Google’s Tango technology, a world’s first. By using various sensors and Google’s software, the Phab 2 Pro can map its surrounding to enable AR experiences. As an example, a clip was played at the launch showing a digital pet that could ‘interact’ with physical objects like the user’s furniture.

The new products will be available locally around the end of December and will be priced as below:
Yoga Book – RM2,599
Phab 2 Pro – RM1,899
Phab 2 Plus – RM1,299
Phab 2 – RM899